bento goodie GIVEAWAY to benefit Alex

Update:
This giveaway is now closed. Thank you to all who participated! :)
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Bento goodies, get your bento goodies here!

I'm hosting my second bento goodie giveaway! It's summer time and this bento prize pack is sorta summer themed! :)

The loot up for grabs this time around:


- super neato Terra-cycle lunch bag made from re-purposed Capri-Sun drink packages!
- an awesome two-tier bento box!
- a pack of ocean themed picks!
- two star-staped silicone cups!
- a set of egg molds, one car and one fish!

The bento box is really cool! The top tier has a movable divider to help keep foods separated.


The picks are really cute. They feature starfish, seahorses, fish and other fun sea creatures.
These are brand new. Unfortunately, my 3 year-old daughter was testing out her scissor skills and cut the top of the package open. I promise you I didn't lick but a few of them.

Just kidding! They are all sparkly and clean, I swear! :)
The silicone cups are super cool, I've been using some of these blue ones a lot lately! They came as a set of six and I put these ones aside just for this giveaway - just for YOU! :)

I neglected to take a better close-up photo of the egg molds. They are the same ones as I used when I made this tutorial on how to make shaped eggs! You can check them out more closely there, and read some easy-to-follow directions too. If you win these you may need that little "how-to", unless you read Japanese, of course. ;-)

All this fun stuff could be yours!


How to enter the giveaway:

This is where it gets a little tricky.
There are so many contests and giveaways these days where you can earn entries to the prize by jumping through all sorts of hoops...
- "Become a fan of my Facebook page!"
- "Follow me on Twitter!"
- "Say 'Shelley sells seashells by the seashore three times really fast!"
- "Rub your tummy and pat your head!"
- "Subscribe to my blog's feed!"
- "Follow my blog!"

I could even ask you to vote for me in a silly little Mom Food Blogger contest I was nominated for.

Well, I could do those things. But I'm not going to. Because this contest isn't for me or about me.

This contest is for you and it's about Alex.

This is Alex.

Alex just turned six.
He loves lizards, balloons, and Cracker Barrel.
Alex has a fierce affection for tractors and has a smile that could melt your heart. He also has cancer.

He is the son of my friends, Andrea and Erik Kallas. Alex was adopted from Russia when he was 13 months old. It was known then that he suffered from Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. A couple years later he would be diagnosed with Autism also. Those are some pretty tough hurdles to navigate, but they are nothing compared to what came next.
In November Alex was diagnosed with Stage 3 High Risk Neuroblastoma. Nobody wants their child to have cancer. But if your child is going to get cancer, this is the one you hope to God they don't have. It is a terrible, horrifyingly aggressive form of cancer. Alex was given a 20% chance to survive.

In the 7 months since his diagnosis Alex has undergone seven in-patient *adult dose* rounds of chemotherapy. He has had a stem cell transplant. Alex has just completed his 8th round of radiation, with twelve more to go.
Neuroblastoma is a sick, vile disease.

But Alex, Alex is beautiful.


Even with insurance, the financial ramifications of having a critically ill child are staggering. Alex's parents have been hit with medical costs in the tens of thousands of dollars. One example: chemotherapy has caused severe hearing loss, requiring Alex to need hearing aids. Hearing aids are not covered by insurance. Hearing aids cost nearly $4,000.

Why I am telling you this.

There is a way you can help Alex's family. They have been entered in a contest. If they win this contest their family will win a weekend vacation (a huge blessing for so many reasons, but it's a long story...take my word for it, this family has earned a vacation together). If they win this contest they will also win $15k. Fifteen thousand dollars to help pay medical bills.

The contest is the Pigeon Forge Taking Vacation Back Sweepstakes.

To vote for Alex you need to click the "votes" box and then "sort".
The family is listed as "Andrea K. - Spring Hill, Tn (6/1/2010)".
Then click where is says "vote", just to the left of Andrea's name. At the time of this posting they are in 3rd place.

You may vote from any computer once EACH DAY for the entire month of July.

Each time you vote for Alex, leave a comment on this giveaway post. You will get one entry for every vote you cast. Again, you can vote once a day from every computer. If your phone has internet access you can vote from there too.

Cast your vote there, leave a comment here. Cast another vote there, leave another comment here.

** I'm running this contest until next Tuesday, July 13. I'll close the contest sometime that night, probably between 10-11pm CST. Winning comment will be selected by random.org.
If this giveaway proves successful I will dig deep into my bento stash and host ANOTHER giveaway after this one to garner more votes for the Kallas family. It's up to you. I've got some good stuff in there.

Miracles happen. Miracles happen every day. A miracle is happening right now for Alex.


Be a part of Team Alex. Cast your vote. And keep this sweet boy in your prayers.